The Opelousas courier., 1887-06-18
Eushtous In Live Ani1ndgs.

N1Shto7ss In LiUe AnilnaGS.
Last season every young lady Of fash
ion in the East affected abig dog, cithe
a mastiff or q setter, and dogfanc;er
could hardly supply the demand, an.
large sums were paid for good dogs. Th
fashion is set in dogs by some one j
England generally. If any Of the royl
family are seen with dogs of q certain
kind, the brute forthwith rises in popu
lar favor, and thousands of these dog
are sold. The same is true to a certain
extent in this country, and in all tim
the fashion in pets has been set by SOM
leaderi in society. Pope is said to hav'
started the fashion of keeping spaniels
and his dog Bounce was famed far ano
near.
It is quite the thing to have ar owl in
the library--not a live one, but a we'll
stuffed specimen-which, if you have
not much wisdom yourself, shows thai
you appreciate it in others; but why tn
owl should be taken for the type of wis
dom it would be difficult to tell, as they
arc proverbially stupid, obtaining their
wisdom as do soma people, by merely
possessing the faculty Of keeping still
and not letting people find out how stu
pid they really are. A few years ago
there was a sudden demand in New
York for young alligators, and large or
ders were sent to florida, and hundreds
of the reptiles were sent N ,r.h and sold.
Gentlemen sent them to their lady friends
and carried them about in their pockets,
The establishment of the aquarium in
New York started a craze for fishes and
home aquaria, AMI in several private
houses these were tied into conservator-
les in q very effective manner. The
especial demand was for a fish called the
king kio, which was merely a c~uriously
shaped goldfish, the result Of a japanese
attempt at breeding. The goldfishes are
extremely prone to malformations, es-
pcc:a!ly in the tail, which often spreads
out like a plum :, and being a delicate
silzery hue presented a beautiful con
trast to the deep scarlet body. The fish
was valued at $500, yet there were
people who would willingly have paid
this sum to possess it. In China and
Japan these fishes are bred in remarkable
shapes scme have three tails, others have
but one ray to the dorsal fin, while
others have telescope eyes. The natives
breed them carefully, and have numer-
Gus names for them. Thousands of gold.
fishes were sold in New York in 1876 to
decorate rooms, and the fashion is one
that should be kept up-a beautifully
colorcd fish IN a fancifully shaped aquar-
lum forming an attractiv, addition to a
library. In China years ago a small !
of quail was used by Chinese
ladies of rank to warm the hands, being
held in them and passed around to be
and cnj ycd as a living warming.
pan.
Twenty or thirty years ago it was the
ashton to have either a parrot or a
non6ey, and every East Indiaman that
'etarned bore. its quota of these pets.
The fashion in birds has been carried to
UGH an extent that, according to thu
American ornithologists' union, many
# our common birds are threatened
With determination, AMI the most
tringent rules are being taken to pre-.
'ent the slaughter. Fashion demands
hat feathers shall be worn, and conse-
uently birds of all Kinds are brought to
larket and dyed to meet the require ]
tents. Even eggs are used, especially
hose Of the ostrich, being suspended by J
slender cord in halls, to carry out the !
iea'of the tabled egg of the roc, that J
ing in n of the halls described by /
indbad. -[San Francisco Call. l